New study to consider staffing levels at Aurora Police Department
A new study set to begin soon will take a look at both the number of employees the Aurora Police Department needs and where those employees are needed most.
The Aurora City Council on Tuesday night approved an agreement with Matrix Consulting Group to complete the Aurora Police Department Staffing and Strategic Planning Study at a price of around $134,000 plus a 5% contingency.
The resolution was passed as a part of the meeting's consent agenda, which is typically used for routine or non-controversial items that are all approved with one vote and without discussion instead of needing to vote on and talk about each individual item.
The item was discussed at a meeting of the Aurora City Council's Finance Committee on Jan. 30, where Aurora Chief Management Officer Alex Alexandrou told committee members that the planning study would be the first of its kind in the department's history.
The Aurora Police Department has been looking at its own staffing needs for the past couple years, and through formal and informal surveys, police officials have heard by 'overwhelming feedback' that people want more police officers and more officers in neighborhoods, according to Aurora Police Lt. Bill Rowley.
While police departments are recommended to determine staffing levels based on their city's population, the Aurora Police Department wants the Staffing and Strategic Planning Study to use a more 'strategic, analytical and community-level approach to Aurora's needs,' according to a staff report included with Tuesday's City Council meeting agenda.
Matrix Consulting Group will do a 'multitask analysis' of the Aurora Police Department to figure out how many employees the Aurora Police Department should have as well as the most efficient and impactful way to use those employees, Rowley told the Finance Committee on Jan. 30.
The multitask approach will begin with a look at the current state of the Aurora Police Department and the city itself, according to Rowley. He said that, during this stage, Matrix Consulting will gather input from city leaders and others to get a 'holistic' view of the city and its public safety needs, particularly as they relate to the police department.
The company will also look for community and employee input through surveys and community meetings before putting all this initial information together into an overview of the Aurora Police Department, Rowley said.
From there, Matrix Consulting will compare the Aurora Police Department to nearby law enforcement agencies and to nationally-recognized best practices, he said.
The survey will also take a look at Aurora Police Department employees' workloads, which along with the department's current staffing levels will show how many employees the department actually needs rather than just relying on city population data, according to Rowley. He said this analysis will also include what time of day and what days of the week staffing needs are the greatest, among other things.
The Aurora Police Department currently splits its efforts among different beats, which similar to Aurora City Council wards divide up the city based on geography and police calls, and these will also be considered under the study to see if changes need to be made, Rowley said.
The study will look beyond the department's current needs to also consider what will happen if the city's population grows to 250,000 when the city's southeast, southwest and far west sides are all built out, according to Alexandrou.
'We really want to make this as robust and predictive for us as possible,' he said.
The study should take around five months to complete and will be available to both the Aurora City Council and others in the community, Rowley said.
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